Blog

The rise of 3D printing technology and its increasing availability in schools, libraries, and museums presents new opportunities to improve learning and accessibility in a variety of educational contexts. Benetech was therefore delighted to convene the first major national forum of its kind devoted solely to the topic of 3D printing for accessible educational materials. Held at the Tech Museum of innovation in San Jose, the three-day national meeting brought together over forty-five practitioners and end users in the fields of 3D printing technology and services, accessible education, tactile learning modalities, library and museum services, and educational content.

At Benetech, we always seek new opportunities to strengthen existing ties and establish new contacts with our community. We were therefore delighted to partner with the NewCo business festival and proud to have been selected as a host company in the 2015 NewCo Silicon Valley, which was held earlier this month. The session we hosted, led by Vice President of Benetech Labs, Anh Bui, focused on open innovation and tech-for-good, and included demos of our MathML Cloud and 3D Printing for Education projects, which received excellent feedback from our audience.

The tech industry has been successful at figuring out ways to make things faster, easier, and cheaper, and now it is changing the philanthropy and nonprofit sectors, too. In a story that examines the ways in which wealthy, young tech entrepreneurs are turning to philanthropy and transforming nonprofits, the Chronicle of Philanthropy cites CEO Jim Fruchterman on what he has identified as successful models for engaging tech donors.

The World Blind Union’s (WBU) Right to Read campaign for ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty just concluded two days of meetings in Berlin, Germany. The attendees were mostly the regional coordinators of the campaign, and the news was good. I found the optimism exciting: it seems like we’re moving quickly to getting twenty countries to ratify the Treaty. It even seems likely that it could happen in 2015!

Palo Alto, California, May 27, 2015—Benetech announces the beta release of MathML Cloud 1.0, a free, open source, cloud-based tool that automatically generates accurate images and image descriptions of mathematical expressions. This service provides access to math for readers who have visual disabilities or learning differences, thus enabling them properly to study math concepts critical for successful Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.